London Calling

London features in most of the Bond stories, particularly in Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me.

For a bit of fun I have produced the below map in the style of the London Underground which attempts to show all of the locations mentioned in the 007 novels.  As per Harry Beck's original tube map, this is not strictly geographically accurate although my "stations" are approximately in the correct places.

In Goldfinger, Bond actually takes the tube from Bank station when returning back to headquarters after visiting Colonel Smithers at the Bank of England.  Even M seems to use it in Dr No after telling his driver to finish early "I'll use the tube this evening. No weather for driving a car."

Wellington Square is the joker in the pack as this is not actually mentioned in Fleming's novels, however this is the location of Bond's flat in Chelsea given by John Pearson in his book "James Bond: The Authorised Biography".

Strict rules of golf?

Follow the Bond v Goldfinger golf game which took place at the Royal St Marks golf links at Sandwich by using my Google Map. A close game which Fleming placed on the real life Royal St Georges golf course in Kent.

I have attempted to recreate the shots that Bond (red) and Goldfinger (orange) played at each hole.  Unfortunately Fleming does not go into detail about the shots played at the 8th, 9th, 12th, 13th and 16th holes.

"The ball soared a hundred feet, paused elegantly, dropped eighty feet on to the thatched roof of the starter's hut and bounced down." Goldfinger, chapter 8

A trip to Shrublands

In the novel Thunderball and following an unsatisfactory medical, Bond is sent to a health clinic in Sussex.  He travels from London via train but takes a taxi from the station to the town of Washington. 

Fleming doesnt mention the railway station but we can deduce it is Burgess Hill Station which is "'bout half an hour" away.  From the text it is clear Bond is not collected from Brighton and the small station at Hassocks does not appear to have had any traffic islands (roundabouts) close by for the cab driver to negotiate at the time.

The route takes Bond to Shrublands through Sussex Downs towns of Poynings and Fulking.

During the taxi ride, Bond and the Cab driver discuss the Bucket of Blood, the nickname of the Astor Club which was the location of a notorious police corruption case in 1954.  Also in close proximity to each other are Brighton Racecourse where the cab driver sees as the source of his future fortunes and Brighton Central Hosptial (actually Brighton General Hospital) where Count Lippe recovers from his burns.

Bond's mode of transport was an Austin taxi which was 20 years old.  With Thunderball taking place in 1958 then the most likely model was the Austin Low Loading Taxi Cab which was introduced in 1934.